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Is Botox Safe During Pregnancy?

Published on November 30, 2013 by Ralph Massey

The growing number of women postponing motherhood until they’re older is posing a new question for doctors: Is Botox safe during pregnancy? Los Angeles cosmetic surgeon Dr. Robert Abergel advises that with proper injection, Botox won’t seep from the facial muscles into a woman’s circulation.

With more women delaying pregnancy until later in life, unintentional exposure of pregnant women to Botox is likely to occur more often. The drug, which temporarily paralyzes facial muscles, also diminishes wrinkles, and provides relief from migraines, tension headaches, and muscle and neck spasms.

Very young women (in their 20s) are not likely to consider Botox, but these days many pregnancies are taking place when a woman is 30, 35, 40, even 45 years of age. So the occurrence rate of pregnancy with Botox may no longer be that rare.

One recent study involved 28 women who used Botox when they were pregnant (at least 18 of the 28 during their first trimester), and the results were 25 normal pregnancies, one abortion and two miscarriages. (Note: Both women who miscarried had a history of previous miscarriages.)

Although these are rather small numbers, if Botox would have caused and malformations, it would have resulted in one or more malformed babies. Your cosmetic surgeon Los Angeles hopes that this data helps to reassure women who were exposed to Botox before they knew they were pregnant, or for those rare cases who suffer from botulism poisoning.

And while the numbers aren’t really large enough to prove that Botox during pregnancy isn’t 100 per cent safe, if you happen to have been exposed, you don’t need to take extreme measures such as terminating your pregnancy.

The bottom line is that if you’ve had Botox treatments and then found out that you’re pregnant, it’s unlikely that there’s any risk to your baby. Studies have shown that when Botox is injected into your facial muscles, the small amount utilized does not circulate throughout your body, so it wouldn’t reach your unborn baby.

If you’re pregnant and considering Botox injections, though, due to the lack of data, I recommend waiting until after you deliver your baby to receive the treatment.

The Botox won’t hurt the baby, but you probably won’t need it during pregnancy because being pregnant will cause your body to retain water, which typically puffs up your face and fills in all the little character lines and crow’s feet around your eyes. So being pregnant may be all the cosmetic treatment you need.